A New Fox
by Reask the Patient
Summary: Upon Minato's death, he asked the Kyubi to watch over Naruto. Hearing his desperation, the fox complied. Let's see how the blond knucklehead ninja will act with a powerful fox acting as a father figure. Rated T for Temporary Rating Up for adoption.
1. Chapter 1

**This idea came to me after reading so many fics where the kyubi turned out to be kind and a girl. I prefer the idea that he would be kind. So here we go, remember to read, then review. Favorite and I will try to answer any comments you have regarding the story.**

**I don't own Naruto or any of its characters.**

_The night of the attack._

Minato looked upon the giant fox in front of him with worry. "Please, don't be angry at my son. Protect him and guide him. It would be wrong to put so much hate towards a young boy like him." He coughed up some blood, halting his speech.

Both Minato and Kushina were impailed by one of the Kyubi's claws as they were protecting their son from death. The fox looked upon them with rage at first, but calmed after hearing the dying fathers words. Right before Minato finished the seal, he saw the fox nod, as if to recognize and agree to his request.

As they slipped, the seal complete, they heard a very powerful voice speak. **"Don't worry. I will treat him like my own. I promise he will grow up strong."** The parents smiled as they drifted unto death.

_Timeskip, Six Years Later_

A young blond boy, with spiky hair was sitting on a swing of the playground in Konoha. He was an orphan and was shunned by the villagers for a reason he did not know. As the sun was setting he shed some tears watching the other children leaving with their parents.

He continued to cry till he heard a voice echo from all around him. **"Are you ok young one?"** He didn't know how to answer the voice and was moreover scared by the sound of it. Before he ran anywhere he felt his consciousness slip.

Waking up he saw he was in a sewer of sorts with a giant gate behind it. Curiosity took the better of him as he walked up to the large gate. When he was right next to it, a large red eye appeared behind it, startling the young boy into falling over.

"What are you? Are you a monster?" The young boy asked while pointing a finger. The fox simply smiled and moved into the dim lighting. **"I guess I could be called that, although I prefer the idea of being an aspect of power."** The fox chuckled at his own statement and the young boy felt more relaxed.

"What's your name fox-san?" The large fox neared the gate and spoke quietly. **"I am known as the Kyubi no Yoko, but my real name is Kurama. And what is your name boy?"** The boy perked up a bit at the kind introduction. He was scared at first, but was excited that the large being was treating him well. "My name's Naruto Uzumaki, and I want to be Hokage!"

Kurama was proud of the kid's ambition. He backed away into the darkness before changing into a human form. When he appeared as a human, he was the size of an adult. He wore a Chinese battle dress that was black in color and had orange flames on the side. (Picture the outfit Kurama wore in Yu Yu Hakusho) His hair was orange, like his fur, and his eyes were red like before. His face had whiskers just like Naruto's did, which made the man seem like Naruto's father. As he walked up to the gate, he smiled and stuck out his hand.

"**Well, Naruto, I would be happy to help your dream come true."** Naruto grinned and shook the man's hand. "Awesome, but how will you teach me?" The boy was a bit troubled by the thought. Kurama just smiled and pointed towards the gate.

"**All you need to do is weaken the seal on the gate a little, and I will be able to communicate with you without you having to come here. From there I can train you to become a great ninja."** Naruto ran over to the gate and looked at the complicated seal on the center. "How am I able to weaken the seal?"

Kurama laughed a little, the boy had no clue about any ninja training or such, so he had no idea what to do with a seal. **"Just scratch the edge of the seal for now. Another effect this will have is that more of my youki will leak through, giving you greater power to work with."**

Naruto did as he said and tore a small corner off the seal. He was met with a small rush of power, and Kurama walked past the gate to meet him. **"Now, you will need some real ninja equipment, and to enroll in the academy. Why don't you talk to the third about both."** Naruto smiled and was ejected from the mindscape.

He was back on the swing set when he opened his eyes and looked around before noticing the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi looking for him.

He ran up to Hiruzen and smiled. "Hey Jiji, can I be a ninja?" Hiruzen stared with confusion for a second. "Of course Naruto, but why do you want to be a shinobi here?"

"I want to become Hokage so everyone will recognize me!" The elder ninja smiled at his words. The young boy spoke with ambition. "Very well. I will work on getting you into the academy, and tomorrow, we can go get you some proper clothes for a shinobi."

The next day, the Hokage kept his word and took the boy through town. They went up to a ninja's clothing store and Naruto entered first. The shopkeeper was irritated at the young boy. "Hey, your kind isn't allowed here. Get out now before I"-

"Before you what?" Sarutobi stood in front of the shopkeeper and lectured him while Naruto went through the store getting ninja equipment. Kurama talked to him through his mindscape and gave him instructions on what to get. Naruto was about to grab the orange jumpsuit on the wall when Kurama told him to ignore it.

"But why can't I get that?"

"**You want to be a ninja, right? Then you want to find some clothing that would help hide your body. And trust me, that color of orange will do nothing for concealment."** Naruto understood what the old fox said and instead grabbed a black outfit off the wall.

He chose a black sleeveless shirt and a pair of dark blue shorts. With a shurikin pouch and a kunai sheath he felt he was complete with his outfit. He found a few copies of it and was content. Kurama however thought otherwise. He led him over and directed him to a few pair of black forearm-sleeves with dark orange flames. Naruto liked the color and thought it would work perfectly. On the way to the counter he passed a rack of swords. **"Stop! There is one more thing you should get."**

"And what would that be?" Kurama made him look over and noticed a special katana resting under the other ones. He picked it up and saw the tsuba had a fox design on it. **"I thought you would like a sword to represent yourself with."** Naruto drew the sword and saw that it had various wave patterns on it that looked like flames. **"This blade is made of a very special metal. When it forms, it naturally has this type of pattern, and on top of that, it channels chakra very well."**

Naruto brought the sword with him and set everything on the counter. The man at the register tallied everything up. "That will be 795,095 yen." The Hokage gladly paid and they left. The same process was repeated at the equipment store where Naruto got plenty of shurikin, kunai, explosive tags, and sealing tags of all things.

They went to a food market and Hiruzen found that at almost every store, Naruto was either not allowed, or ridiculously overcharged. He got a good supply of food and Hiruzen strong-armed the owners to treating him fairly. He then set the boy up with an allowance under him and an apartment run by a friend of his. Naruto had a much better place to sleep now instead of the orphanage. After he got settled, the Hokage left and Naruto opened conversation with Kurama.

"So what do we do now fox-san?"

"**Now, I can teach you how to be a ninja. If the people at the market were any clue, then the teachers will most likely teach you poorly. You can enter your mindscape during class and I will teach you what you need to know. After class, we can go to a training field and work on your real skills."**

Naruto smiled and agreed with Kurama's plan. He went to sleep in wait for the next day.

_The next morning_

Naruto woke up early and got ready as quick as he could. Kurama gave him advice on how to wear the equipment and soon he was ready. He chose the first outfit he bought yesterday. He had the katana angled across his back with the handle on the right side. His kunai pouch was resting on his right calf, and his shurikin pouch was on the left of his hip. On his right hip, he had a belt with pouches, each with scrolls for sealing jutsu.

As he was heading out the door Kurama spoke with him on etiquette. **"Listen Naruto. I am ok with you mentioning me; just don't refer to me by my name. My name is a secret that only two humans have learned, and it does have some power to it. Just refer to me as Kyubi."** Naruto ok'd the idea and continued on to school. When he got there Kurama had one more thing to say. **"When you mention me, people might get scared. Just tell them that I am your tutor and nothing more. You will learn who to trust on my secrets and I trust you with them."**

As Naruto entered the classroom, he saw a large group of students. Most of them were from famous clans. As he sat down, a boy with raven black hair and black eyes confronted him. "Oi you don't deserve a sword like that. Hand it over."

The girls around him backed him up. Apparently, his name was Sasuke Uchiha. "Wrong! I deserve this sword since my teacher picked it out for me."

"Who would pick a kid like you to be their student?"

"I'll tell you who. I'm the student of Kyubi!" Everyone fell silent as he yelled the last word. Some had heard their parents talking about the Kyubi and it's attack on the village. Many died in the attack including the fourth Hokage. Everyone began to wonder why the Kyubi would pick a pupil, but it fit together considering the adults treated him like a disease.

They backed away except for the Uchiha kid. "The fact that you are proud of that just makes you more unworthy of carrying such a tool." He swung at Naruto with a right fist. Naruto thought he would get hit so he relied on instinct. Before anyone in the room knew what happened, Sasuke was on the other side of the room with a bruise on his arm. Naruto was standing but didn't know what just happened.

"He just smacked Sasuke!" Naruto sat back down and the teacher came in. Everyone was riled up about the attack, but were quickly quieted down. Sasuke was angry about being hit, but complied.

"Ok Kurama, ready when you are."

"**Good job on the back hand kid. Ok let's begin."**

The next six years were spent well for the young blond. During the day, Kurama taught him battlefield tactics and strategy in the classroom. When they went to train after school, he practiced weapon techniques and various jutsu. Kurama tested his nature affinity and found he had a strong affinity for wind chakra and a minor affinity for water chakra. To accompany his training, he learned taijutsu techniques that Kurama invented. It was a semi-animalistic styled taijutsu, but favored on dodging and redirection of attacks followed by strong finishing moves.

Naruto was tutored in fuinjutsu for two years before he became a natural at it. His scrolls now contained things ranging from weapons, to sealing techniques. Over time he also worked on Kurama's seal. He began to devise a way to get around the seal. He was still a distance away, but was getting closer.

_Naruto Uzumaki, Age: 12_

Naruto made it to class early like he was used to. Over the years he became more toned and grew a few inches. Today was the day he would graduate from the academy. His instructor entered the class to find Naruto meditating on his desk. Over the year Iruka had him as a student, he noticed Naruto would spend more time molding chakra than paying attention to class. But Naruto made good marks in his classes so he didn't mind. "How are you doing Naruto? Are you ready for the test today?" Naruto gave him a thumb up as response before everyone else came.

As everyone sat down, Kurama pulled Naruto away for some quick instruction. **"Listen up. You are going to throw off your score."** Naruto didn't like the idea, but he went along with it. He learned that Kurama was very helpful to him and wouldn't steer him wrong.

They began with written knowledge which Naruto let slip as barely passing. When it came to kunai and shurikin accuracy, he purposefully hit around the target on the post. He decided to take it easy with the substitution jutsu and transformation jutsu. When it came to the Bushin jutsu, he only created one clone, where everyone else created two.

He barely passed the exam but was fine with it. When they received the scores, Naruto was dead last while Sasuke was Rookie of the Year. "Serves you right teme. I figured with the fox training you, there was no way you could beat me."

Naruto was annoyed by his taunting and decided to indulge in some payback. "If you're so confident that you can beat me, then let's go." The students around him were surprised by his remark. Only a few of them really knew what he was capable of. Those three realized that he was finally going to cut loose and started to pay attention.

Naruto motioned for Sasuke to follow him outside and lead him to the training field. They stood on opposite sides of the field with the students on one side. Before Naruto started, he made sure that teachers were nowhere in sight, and pulled out a sealing scroll. "**Four points: Dimensional Boundary**". Naruto channeled chakra into the scroll and a barrier surrounded the students. "Ok, now that we have some privacy, I can show you some skills."

"I guess you don't want anyone to see your misery other than our classmates?"

"No, I just prefer our standings in the eyes of our teachers the way it is now. Now shut up and fight." Naruto stood sideways to the Uchiha boy; his hands open with one in front and the other by his stomach. Sasuke took this as the start and lunged at Naruto with a cross kick. Naruto ducked under the attack and pushed Sasuke's leg higher into the air, shifting the boy off balance.

The battle continued like this for a while. Sasuke would attempt to attack, and Naruto would throw the attack aside and not even try to counter. After a while of this, Sasuke was fed up. He went through a few hand signs before placing his hand near his mouth. "**Fire Style: Grand Fireball**!" The fireball rushed towards Naruto but he drew a fuma shurikin and laced it with wind chakra before spinning it in front of himself. The fireball impacted with the shurikin and dissipated

Naruto smiled at his opponent as a ploy. "You have no real chance against me. Give up or I can end this in one blow." Sasuke was irritated at the move, and without thinking charged at him with a kunai in hand. Naruto made the hawk hand sign before launching his own attack. **"Wind Style: Tornado Wave."**

Naruto thrust his palm out to meet the Uchiha and a blast of air shot forth from his hand, throwing Sasuke into the barrier. Sasuke was knocked out cold, and Naruto dispelled the barrier before returning the scroll to its pouch.

A few girls rushed over to try and help the boy, notable ones being Sakura Haruno and Ino Yamanaka. When they reached him, he woke up and shoved them aside to march up to Naruto. The two met eye to eye, Naruto did not blink as the Uchiha boy tried to intimidate him. "Lucky shot dobe."

"The fact that you ran into my attack means nothing. In the world of the shinobi, a win is a win, luck or not." Naruto grinned back and walked away. He had to train still, and hanging around with someone like that would only hinder his training.

**That wraps it up for the chapter. Remember to review the story. And Bonus question. What is the name of the four-tailed gorilla bijuu? Will post the answer at the start of the next story along with those who guessed it.**

**Reask**


	2. teamwork and troubles

**Hello again everyone. Sorry for the wait, devising techniques and ideas for the characters is tough with so many fics about Naruto right now. Just to let you know, this isn't going to be a pure Naruto is better than everyone story. I will increase character development as I go along and while trying not to make drastic changes, each of the characters I focus on will be improved. Hope you like it and let's kick it off!**

**I don't own Naruto or any of its characters, except for Human Kurama**

**The Crashing of the Wave**

The day started well enough for the blond shinobi. He got dressed in his favorite black outfit and had a decent breakfast before making his way towards the academy. He exchanged the standard blue headband that the academy gave out yesterday for a black one with a longer band. The band was tied neatly to his head while the bands waved behind him as he sped across the rooftop.

After a short amount of time, he made it to the academy. After making it inside, he studied over some notes on Fuinjutsu and began to write some seals out for explosive, silencing, and binding tags. After making three stacks of five each, he put them away as the rest of the classmates made their way in.

Sasuke sat on the opposite side of the room from him and his fan girls were soon bickering over who would sit next to him. Seeing a way to end their bickering, he sat next to the Uchiha and offered a hand. "No hard feelings about yesterday, as far as everything that went down, let's just let it slide. After all, we might be teamed up together right?"

Sasuke stared at the blond like he was speaking like a bird. "Why should I be nice to you? You're just some last rate looser."

Naruto gritted his teeth a little. Sasuke was getting on his nerves a bit, but he couldn't let that affect his judgment. "In case you remember, I danced around you while you tried to beat me, and then were knocked out cold with a mid-level wind jutsu. Maybe we might have things to teach each other later on."

Sasuke tried to come up with a good excuse, but Naruto made sense. Why fight with a teammate who could easily beat you when you could learn their tricks. "I guess I can forget what happened. But if we are on the same team, we better settle who is best." Naruto smiled at his response and shook the raven-haired boy's hand. Naruto then took out a stack of seals he prepared earlier and handed them to Sasuke. "A gift, these will come in handy."

Sasuke looked at the stack and noticed they weren't all the same kind of tags. Smirking, he placed the tags in his shurikin pouch and sat back. The girls had stopped arguing with each other to notice that Naruto filled the seat next to Sasuke, and the two boys were not angry about each other.

"Get away from Sasuke you loser." Sakura was the one to voice her complaint about not being able to sit next to the Uchiha. Naruto and Sasuke both smirked as Naruto had enough consideration to answer her. "Who cares really? After we're done here we are going to be split up into teams anyway. So why don't you kick back and relax until we find out who is gonna be paired up with who."

His statement took the pinkette aback. She looked at the blond attempting to see through any guise, but found none. She was angered further when Naruto ignored her to talk to Sasuke. "If you need any help understanding the seals, or if you want to learn, I can help out okay?"

Sasuke just smirked at the thought. Maybe he could use the blond to get strong enough to defeat his brother. He nodded and sat diligently in his chair. They sat for a while until Iruka walked in and everyone sat down in response.

"Congratulations on becoming genin. You are going to all be assigned into three man teams with a jounin as a leader. I'll read off the team rosters now so everyone pay attention." Iruka began to list off names as the class. Naruto paid slight attention to his teacher until he heard his name called. He was put on a team with Sasuke Uchiha and Sakura Haruno. A small grin came across his face as he witnessed Sakura's reaction to being on his team.

After the teams were called off, jounin walked into the room to procure their new pupils. After the jounin left, only Naruto's team was left. They sat in the room for a while, and after an hour Naruto broke the silence by walking over to Sakura. Holding out a stack of seals, the blond addressed his teammate.

"Since I already gave Sasuke a set of these, I thought it would be a good idea to outfit the rest of the team with them." Sakura accepted the seals before responding to Naruto. "Did you make these yourself?"

"Yeah, I thought that although Fuinjutsu is a bit obscure, it has a decent amount of uses in our job with a variety of uses."

"So, do you mind telling us what these seals are for?" Sakura asked intently. Fuinjutsu was rare, but took a lot of intelligence to use.

"The first five seals in the stack are one sided explosive tags. They will explode like regular ones, but will not damage any surface they are placed on." The two looked at the tags and tried to see any difference between these and regular tags.

"The second five are a form of silencing seal. By placing them on a wall and applying chakra, it will soundproof the room. Lastly, the final five are storage seals. These ones can store up to twenty kunai from what I have tested, and you can apply them to a part of your body in order to grant quick access." Naruto finished his lecture and saw that another was sitting in the room listening to his lecture. The man had silver hair and was covered completely in jounin gear except for his right eye.

"Nice job on the instruction Naruto. Can I get some from you later?" Naruto tossed him a bound stack of seals and watched as the jounin pocketed them before addressing the others. "My name is Hatake Kakashi, and I'm your jounin for your team. Meet me on the roof."

Kakashi used the shunshin jutsu to leave the room, and Naruto quickly followed his example and did the same. The blonde's action left Sakura and Sasuke to walk to the roof on their own. When they made it to the roof, they saw Naruto chatting with their sensei about the other two. They shared a small chuckle as Sakura and Sasuke sat down in front of their sensei.

"Since we are a new team, the best thing to do now would be to get to know each other. So introduce yourself and tell everyone about your likes, dislikes, dreams, ambitions, that sort of thing. Naruto, you're up." Kakashi pointed to the blond ninja.

Naruto moved to sit by his teammates before beginning. "Well, my name is Naruto Uzumaki. I like ramen, training, and learning from my sensei Yoko. I don't like arrogance or unnecessary pride. My dream is to gain the respect of the village."

"Ok pinky, you're up next." Kakashi pointed to her without taking his eye off of the orange book that now rested in front of his face.

"My name is Sakura Haruno. My likes are…" She looked over to Sasuke with a gleam in her eye. "My dreams and hobbies are…" Again she stared at the face of the brooding Uchiha.

"What don't you like?" Kakashi asked since the only thing on the girl's mind was the raven-haired boy. "NARUTO!" She yelled in reply while sending a hateful glare towards the blond. Naruto ignored her and looked back to the jounin, who in response, chucked at the sight.

"You're turn now." Kakashi said to the brooding boy.

Sasuke looked up at Kakashi before beginning. "My name is Sasuke Uchiha. I don't like many things, and I dislike anyone holding me back. I don't have any hobbies; instead, I have a goal. My goal is to avenge my clan and kill a certain someone."

Sakura looked at the boy like he was the greatest thing in the world, while Kakashi and Naruto sweat-dropped. Picking up on the silence that followed, the jounin broke the pause.

"Everyone meet me at training ground 7 tomorrow at 7am, and don't eat anything if you hate vomiting." Kakashi poofed away and left the three genin sitting alone. Sakura attempted to ask Sasuke out before he walked away. This left Sakura with Naruto who was leaning back and staring at the clouds passing.

"I suppose you want to ask me out right Naruto?" Sakura was hoping to get a rise out of him. The blond however just stared up at the sky before replying. "I wouldn't be bothered by your presence, but I want to go train with my sensei for a bit."

Sakura was depressed by his answer. He didn't reject her, but he didn't show any interest in her. She however came up with a genius way to garner his attention.

"Would you mind if I trained with you?" Naruto was the one confused. Most of the students knew that he said his teacher was the Kyubi, but none of them every wanted to meet his teacher. He was kind of happy at the thought of sharing his sensei. "I don't mind, but the training is tough. You can meet him though if you want."

Sakura nodded at his suggestion and he motioned for her to follow him to a training ground. They went to Training ground 43. It was like most others, except the large fence that separated it from the Forest of Death. When they stopped, Naruto walked to the center of the field and preformed kuchiyose jutsu.

After the smoke cleared from the technique, Sakura stared at the tall man in front of Naruto. Kurama had taught Naruto how to summon him a while back by relating him to the Fox summoning contract. Rather than his Chinese fighting outfit he wore originally, he was instead wearing a dark blue shirt with a kanji for fox on the left side. He had black cargo pants on and brown combat boots. A trenchcoat, which stopped at his ankles, was open and hanging off of his shoulders and his long orange hair flowed down his back.

Sakura stared at him for a moment before his eyes met hers and she saw the red iris' with slitted pupils. He looked away, giving the girl a scare, before ruffling the hair of Naruto and greeting them.

"**Hello Naruto. I see you brought a friend with you this time."** His voice scared Sakura as it sounded like a mix between a human and a monster's. Naruto pulled Sakura over to him before introducing her. "Yoko, this is my teammate Sakura. She brought up the idea of meeting you so I decided to give her a chance."

Sakura stood rigid as she felt the power emanating off of Yoko flood her senses. Yoko knelled down and offered a hand to the frightened girl. **"There is no need to be afraid of me little girl. I have no intentions of harming anyone."**

"I am not a little girl. I'm 13 I'll have you know." She was angry at his mentioning of her young age, which helped her overcome her fear. Yoko only chuckled at her outburst, and Naruto followed suit. **"I apologize. After living for millennia, I kind of consider everyone alive now to be young. You can call me Yoko if you want."** He sat down with his legs crossed and insisted that they follow. The three sat in a circle before Sakura had the fortitude to ask a question.

"So Naruto, is he the Kyubi that you were talking about?" Naruto nodded in response before Sakura looked to Yoko for confirmation.

"**I am the Kyubi no Kitsune of legends. I must also apologize for my attack on the village those years ago. I was not acting of my own volution and wish to make amends. I understand many of you lost loved ones in the attack, I suspect that you are no exception to that matter. Is there anything that you would like me to do to help with the pain?"** He spoke with sincerity and the only thing Sakura could do was to cry into his chest and his him in the shoulders. This lasted for several minutes until she was dry of tears.

He moved her so she would be sitting upright again before responding to her emotions. **"I can see that I did take a toll upon you young girl. If I may, can I give you a gift in hopes of forgiveness."** Sakura sniffled at the request before nodding and wiping her face.

Yoko stood up and channeled youki before summoning two small foxes. One had a yellow coat and immediately walked over to Naruto before lying on his lap. The other had light red coat and did the same with Sakura. Both of them were fascinated by the small foxes and began to pet them gently. Yoko smiled at the sight. **"I know I may now be able to return the loved one you lost, but I can always give you something to help mend the wound I created. These two young kits are demon foxes."** Sakura looked at her fox in disbelief before he continued. **"They are still quite young, considering that they only have one tail each. I would hope that you would consider raising the one in your lap. As of now they have no names, so the honor of naming them is up to you. After you do, they will require a small amount of your blood to recognize you as their master."**

Naruto looked at the small creature for a moment before gently nicking his finger with a kunai and bringing it to the yellow fox's mouth. "Ok, I name you Ikazuchi (Thunder)." The fox brought its mouth to his finger before licking the blood off. Immediately, it hopped onto Naruto's shoulder and licked his face.

Sakura saw the fox's reaction before looking at her own. She did the same as Naruto and drew a small amount of blood from her hand and brought it to the fox's face. "I guess I will call you Kusabana (Flower). The fox repeated the actions of it's yellow double and proceeded to lick her face in acceptance.

Yoko again smiled at the scene. **"These two are now bound to you and will stay at your side. You will be able to understand what they are thinking and in response, they will understand you. Both of them have an elemental affinity that you must help them with, and they will do their best to help you."** The two, now engrossed in their new pet, listened intently while petting the foxes.

Ikazuchi shocked Naruto a little while being pet, obviously an involuntary reaction. "I guess Ika here has a lightning affinity." He rubbed the head of the young fox as it yipped in response. Sakura's decided to speak out too as it let a small puff of flame out of it's mouth. "And she has a fire affinity!" Sakura brought the fox against her face before snuggling it.

After getting over the initial reaction, Yoko informed them that he was leaving. Sakura and Naruto then walked into town for a bite to eat, their foxes sitting on their shoulders. They went to Ichiraku's ramen stand, seeing that it was the only restaurant that would accept Naruto. After ordering their ramen, Sakura took the time to get to know Naruto. They talked for a while about likes and dislikes, although Sakura still showed feelings towards Sasuke during their talk.

They decided to leave to prepare for tomorrow, but Naruto had advice for the pinkette that couldn't wait. "Sakura, make sure both you and Sasuke get breakfast tomorrow. I have a feeling we'll need it." Sakura was going to ask about it, but Naruto shunshined away in a swirl of water.

When Sakura made it home, her mother greeted her at the door, only to panic at the sight of Kusabana on her shoulder. "Get that thing out of my house right NOW!" She began throwing things at the small fox, only for Sakura to cover and protect it. "Mom! Stop trying to hurt Kusa. She's my pet."

"I don't care! Either get rid of it, or leave with it!" As her mother continued to pelt her with objects, she ran out of her house, hoping to find some refuge for the night. How could any person hold that type of grudge that they would attack anything that reminded them of an incident?

At that moment, Sakura understood why Naruto was mistreated in her childhood. The adults must have known that he was the vessel for Yoko, so they took their anger out on him blindly. He was abused and rejected, ignored and hated. Naruto wasn't even considered something other than the Kyubi, simply because of ignorance.

With that in mind, she ran to the only person she new she needed to see.

Naruto made it back to his apartment, where Ikazuchi ran around and wanted to play. Naruto picked up the fox, and held him in his lap, lulling the kit to sleep. As he pet the fox, a voice played through his mind. It sounded almost like Kurama's, except younger and more innocent. '_Can we play tomorrow Naruto?_'

Naruto looked down upon the now sleeping fox, and set him at the head of his bed. "Of course we can Ika, for now, just rest." Ika purred in response before continuing to sleep.

Turning off the lights in his place, Naruto was about to go to bed, until a knock sounded from his door. Knowing that he had been attacked before at night, Naruto grabbed a kunai before opening the door in a defensive stance.

Rather than an angry villager, instead Sakura Haruno and her fox stood at his door. Her cheeks had small cuts, and were stained from tears. Her eyes were puffy, and her nose was draining slightly. Her eyes were red from strain when she looked into Naruto's, and her voice was hesitant while she spoke.

"Naruto, is it ok if I stay here tonight? My mother threw me out."

Hearing this, Naruto quickly ushered her inside and fixed some tea. She sat down on his bed, and Kusa joined Ika at the head of his bed before falling asleep herself. Naruto grabbed his first aid kit and began to treat her cuts. Sakura looked at the blond and was in awe at the care he showed for her well-being. This, in effect, made Sakura develop a light blush.

After he treated the cuts, he sat in a chair across from her. "Do you want to talk about what happened?"

"She saw Kusabana, and attacked her." Naruto was shocked somewhat, but he understood why. Not that understanding it made him ok with the action. "Without care or thought, she tried to hurt little Kusa. I didn't know what to do. So far, Kusa has been sweet and comforting, but just because of her appearance, my mom refused her, and me for protecting her."

She attempted to cry more, but no tears came. Naruto move closer to comfort her, and she enveloped him in a hug. "I'm sorry for how everyone acted over the years Naruto! I shouldn't have treated you bad. No person should have." Naruto held her close so she could calm down.

When she stopped crying he continued to hold her, knowing that she felt hurt. "Don't worry about it. If you go see Ojji-san tomorrow he will help you find a place for you to stay. Tonight, you can take my bed, I'll pull out a futon for the night."

Naruto grabbed said futon from the storage room of his apartment, and took a shower before heading to sleep. Sakura used the shower after him, and when she came back in, found him already asleep with Ika resting on his chest. She took the sight in, and went to bed herself.

_The Next Day_

Naruto and Sakura both got up early and had breakfast, as to his suggestion. After getting dressed separately, they left for the training field and made it there at 8am. Sasuke was already there for an hour, and Sakura quickly ran over to greet him.

Sasuke watched the two enter the field, and noticed quickly the oddly colored foxes on their shoulders. "What's with the furballs." Sasuke spoke coldly, which made both Ikazuchi and Kusabana snarl at him.

"They are not furballs! Kusa here is a gift from Naruto's sensei." She scratched behind the ear of the rose-colored fox, which made it yip in delight.

"If his sensei is so great, then why doesn't he teach someone worthy of it, like me?" Sasuke could sense some power coming off of the two foxes, and attributed it to something like the Inazuka's dogs. "You should just let him teach me instead Naruto."

Naruto regretted treating the Uchiha nicely yesterday, realizing that he only cared about others if he benefitted from it. "My sensei would only teach someone with humility Sasuke. Obviously, that is something you lack." Ikazuchi yipped in agreement with the blonde's words.

Naruto walked over to a nearby tree and sat against it. Ika ran in a circle in front of him, playing with his own tail. Sakura giggled at the adorable sight, and Kusa ran over to the fellow fox to play.

After two hours, Naruto was going over his equipment with Ikazuchi on his lap. Sakura was petting Kusabana and staring at Sasuke. Sasuke was brooding over the thought of Naruto being under a strong teacher. At this moment, Kakashi shunshined into the field, catching everyone off guard. Sakura decided to emphasize his tardiness by yelling at him about being late.

"Sorry for being late. A cat crossed my path and I had to take the long way around." Kakashi walked over to the three posts in the middle of the field and set down a large alarm clock on the middle post. He then gathered the genins around and held up two bells with strings tied to them.

"Here are the rules for this test. You have three hours in order to retrieve a bell from me. If you fail, you will be sent back to the academy. Now you will have to come at me with intent to kill if you want to succeed. Are there any questions?" Looking at the group, he saw each of them determined to win. "Very well. Begin!"

The trio scattered in different directions before hiding in the trees. Kakashi studied the surroundings in an attempt to find them, but to his delight, they were unnoticeable. 'At the very least, they understand concealment.'

A pair of shurikin flew out of the trees towards the jounin. He avoided them with ease, only to be attacked by Sasuke. Sasuke fell into his family's taijutsu style and began his assault. Kakashi, in response, deflected the punches and kicks. He reached into the shurikin pouch on his hip and brought out a familiar orange book.

Sasuke, irritated by the lack of respect shown, increased the fury of his assault while Kakashi blocked his attacks with one hand, his eyes intently perusing the book in front of his face.

Sasuke leapt back and began going through hand signs before calling out his attack **Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu**. The fireball roared towards the masked jounin before he used a doton technique to hide underground.

Kakashi popped up behind Sasuke and dragged him into the ground until only his head remained above. He then left Sasuke to fend for himself while he looked into the others.

Sakura seemed like a good target to practice genjutsu on, so Kakashi hit her with **Magen Namakuri no jutsu (Demonic Illusions: Hell Viewing Technique)**. Sakura walked into the field in front of her to see Naruto and Sasuke covered in kunai and shurikin. She was about to run towards them when she felt something bite her leg and dispel the genjutsu. Kusabana had broken the jutsu and immediately retaliated by shooting a rose colored fireball towards Kakashi.

Kakashi kawaramid with a nearby log and ran behind Sakura to knock her out. Seeing that two were incapacitated, he decided to focus his efforts on Naruto.

He ran into a clearing where he sensed Naruto's chakra not a moment before. He looked around for any sign before being hit by a large wave of water. The water cleared and left the field they were in soaked in water.

"Now Ika!" Kakashi took enough warning in Naruto's command to jump into the air as a small lightning bolt shot from the trees and surged through the soaked ground. As the silver haired nin was in the air, Naruto shot past him with his sword drawn and sliced Kakashi's jounin vest.

The electricity subsided and Naruto landed across from Kakashi on the field. "That was a very well calculated attack Naruto, but all you managed to do is put me in need of a new vest."

Naruto smirked back and tilted his sword around to show the two bells hanging off of the blade. "I wouldn't say that much." He flicked the blade over and sliced the strings before catching the bells.

Naruto summoned two clones to dig out Sasuke and retrieve Sakura while Ikazuchi ran out of the wood line to wait by his feet. Sasuke walked into the clearing with a scowl on his face, while two clones carried Sakura into the field. They woke Sakura up before dispersing and once again, the tree genin were standing in the field facing their instructor.

"So what do you want to do with the bells Naruto? You decide who gets to stay and who doesn't." Naruto stared at Kakashi and without looking away; threw the bells into the air and sliced them into pieces. "Why should I care about the bells?"

Sasuke was furious and was ready to lunge at the blond. First surpassing his efforts, then destroying his chance. Sakura was in shock and didn't know what to do. Kakashi however had never seen something like this before.

"The bells were useless in the exercise. And if at least one of us had to be sent back to the academy, then I would prefer all of us to fail rather than just one." Kakashi was surprised with his actions but quickly recovered from the shock. Sasuke then tried to attack Naruto with a kunai in hand. He was stopped by their jounin and before he could attack further was interrupted.

"You all passed."

"… WHAT?" Sasuke and Sakura both screamed at the silver haired ninja while Naruto stood tall with a mischievous smile.

"Naruto had the right idea. This test was not about retrieving the bells. Instead, it was to show teamwork. Although you failed to come up with any plans as a team, he succeeded in showing that you must be willing to sacrifice for your team and with them." Ikazuchi appeared happy with the results and ran over to Kakashi. The way he was staring showed that he wanted to be praised. "Although I do admit that you had an excellent combination with your fox here."

The yellow fox yipped at the praise and jumped onto Naruto's shoulder to lick his face. Naruto scratched the fox before turning his attention to his sensei. "So what do we do now?"

"Now we are a team. We will preform missions together regularly and train together to build team strength. As for the rest of today, you are free. Go home and relax. We will meet up tomorrow for a mission." Kakashi disappeared quickly after that and left the three to their own devices.

"Now that that is over, I'm going to train more with Ikazuchi here." Naruto was about to leave when Sasuke grabbed his shoulder. "Fight me now Naruto." Sasuke had a determined look in his eyes and was obviously embarrassed at his own helplessness.

Naruto removed the Uchiha's hand from his shoulder and continued to walk away. Sasuke took this as disrespect and pulled out a kunai to attack him. As he was about to stab Naruto, said blond used a shunshin to evade and left Sasuke looking like a fool. Naruto reappeared near the entrance to the training ground and yelled over to the raven-haired boy. "When you get over your superiority complex, I'll consider your challenge. Until then, just stew in it." He ran off with his fox and left the two teammates alone in the field. Sakura decided to leave as well and picked up Kusabana.

"Sakura, who is Naruto's teacher?" Sakura looked back and thought about telling him the truth, but decided against it. "Naruto's teacher is a legend we never expected." She then walked away, leaving the Uchiha to brood.

Naruto was in another training field a distance away with Kurama observing his training. Naruto had a large amount of wind swirling around him and had dozens of small cuts in his clothes. Eventually the wind died down and he slumped over onto the ground.

"**Decent job kit. But you are still missing something that's preventing you from perfecting the technique."** Kurama helped the boy up and set him against a tree. Naruto looked up to his sensei and pleaded. "But sensei, why can't you just tell me what I am missing?"

Kurama chuckled a little and crouched down to meet Naruto eye to eye. **"Naruto, you must develop this technique on your own. I know you have some idea where to start, but not one ninja in history has attempted it for a reason. The idea of using wind chakra to create armor is an idea that seems almost impossible to achieve. But if you perfect the jutsu, you will be a legend of your own."** Naruto smiled at the thought and hugged his teacher. Over the years that Kurama has trained Naruto, he has become a sort of father figure to the boy.

Kurama then noticed his clothes and addressed the situation. **"While you were developing your jutsu there, you kind of destroyed your clothes."** Naruto looked at himself and found that his clothes and countless little cuts on them that left his clothes in tatters. "It's ok sensei. I'll stop by a clothing shop to grab some reinforced clothing." Kurama grinned at the boy's enthusiasm. He helped Naruto up and poofed away just as a team came into the clearing.

Said team was team 8. Under the guide of Kurenai Yuuhi, Hinata Hyuga, Shino Aburame, and Kiba Inazucha walked over to see Naruto with his clothes in shambles.

Kurenai thought he was attacked and rushed over to him to help. "Are you ok Naruto?"

"I'm fine miss…"

"You can call me Kurenai sensei."

"Ok Kurenai sensei. I was just practicing a new technique and it kind of wrecked my clothes in the process." The rest of her team huddled around Naruto and started to reminisce over their times at the academy. Kurenai stopped her team's yammering as the noise was irritating her. "What exactly does your technique entail Naruto? Or are you trying to keep it a secret?"

Naruto smiled at the group and told them the basis behind his new jutsu. Kurenai thought about the concept for a moment and an idea popped into her head. "Naruto, what about using different kinds of wind?"

Naruto was going to interrupt her, but the comment hit home and he realized exactly what to do. He ran into the center of the field and popped a chakra pill before beginning.

The team was wondering what he was going to try, when a large gust rushed at them from Naruto's direction. The wind continued to pick up and they had to force chakra into their feet to stay on the ground. Hinata activated her Byakugan and saw that wind chakra was both expanding out, and spiraling around Naruto.

"Hinata, how much chakra is he exerting?" Shino looked to her and saw she wasn't even blinking at the force. "I can't exactly say. Although I don't know how long he is going to be able to keep it up."

The wind got stronger for a moment before vanishing. When they looked at the source, they saw that he had a visible layer of chakra around his body and a miniature tornado was surrounding his limbs and torso. "**Futon: Gufuu Yoroi (Wind style: Hurricane Armor)**"

Everyone stared as they took in the technique. Naruto looked over to them and smiled. "If you guys want to help test this out, I would appreciate it." Naruto dropped into a defensive stance with his hands open. His right arm was in front of him while his chest a few inches out centered his left hand.

Kiba, being a bit of a hot head, rushed into an attack wielding kunai. He stabbed at Naruto who blocked by having his palm meet the kunai. Kiba thought he got through, but his kunai was stuck in the wind layer and was slowly being eaten away. Kiba jumped back and tossed a couple of shurikin at him, which were deflected with a swipe of Naruto's hand and broken by the force of the wind chakra as well.

"I guess this jutsu makes pretty good armor." Naruto deactivated the technique and a burst of wind left him. Naruto sat down and whistled. Ikazuchi ran out of the woods, jumped onto the blonde's chest, and began to lick his face.

Kurenai and Hinata both were stunned by how adorable the yellow fox was and ran over to pet it. Ika walked off of Naruto to enjoy the attention from the two ladies and jumped into Kurenai's arms. "Hey Ika! We should be going soon. I need to replace my clothes before we begin missions tomorrow."

Ikazuchi ignored him and went on to garner attention from the two girls. "Where did you find this cute little guy Naruto?" Naruto let out a sigh as he stood up and grabbed Ika from the jounin's grasp. "Ika here was a gift from a sensei of mine. Sakura also has one, but her fox is red. Now I am going to have to take the little guy away for now." Naruto let Ika climb onto his shoulder and the little fox wagged it's tail while the two pouted at being denied time to play with the fox.

In the shinobi section of the village, Naruto walked towards a familiar weapons shop. When he entered, a very large man holding a smithing hammer greeted him. "It's good to see you again Naruto!"

"The same here Arija-san. Is Tenten here today?" Naruto had been to this store many times after he found out how kind Arija was despite his tenant. During one of his visits, he found out that he was also the father of Tenten and began to develop a nice relationship with the two.

"She's in the back doing inventory. Did you need some help with something?"

"Well, as you can see, I kind of wrecked my clothes and decided I needed some with a stringer material. I was hoping that she could help with that." Naruto gestured to his ruined clothes while talking.

"I'll see if she can help, for now feel free to look around." Arija went into the back room and Naruto looked around the clothes for something durable. After a moment, Tenten walked out of the back and over to the blond.

"Hey there Naruto, so what exactly did you need my help with?" Tenten was in her usual outfit. (I'm not going to describe everyone's clothing unless is differs from canon)

"I just wanted some help picking out some new clothes. Sensei told me that sometimes a women's touch could make the difference in appearances." Tenten smirked at the idea of having him put on a fashion show.

"Well, I guess we better get started if you want to make it out of here by nightfall."

"WHAT!" Naruto couldn't protest anymore as she dragged him through the clothing section and picked out clothes for him.

_Mini Timeskip_

After a few hours Tenten and Naruto were both satisfied with his outfit. He had a black shirt with one long, loose sleeve on his right arm that had dark red and orange lines on the side and at the cuff and collar. On his left arm was a plate mail arm guard that ran from his wrist to his shoulder. His pants were dark blue and form fitting. A black belt had his gear pouch on his right hip and his sword was positioned on his left. A kunai pouch was tied to his right thigh and had a seal inside that held a dozen kunai that could be dispensed one at a time. His hitai-ite was the same black one with long bands. The outfit was finished with a pair of black ninja sandals.

"Naruto you do clean up good." Tenten smiled, as she looked him up and down. Naruto was thrown off by her comment and stammered. "T-thanks for helping me find these clothes. I didn't know that you carried clothes made from chakra conductive wire."

"We do, but it can get a little expensive. Don't worry though, I'm sure you can get a discount." Naruto noticed a slight insinuation in her voice and realized that she might want something out of him.

He paid for the clothes, as well as duplicates in different colors, and tried to leave the store quickly until Arija grabbed his shoulder. "Now Naruto, I thought that my daughter explained it to you."

Naruto craned his head around to look at the imposing smith. "Tenten told me that show would cover part of the cost if you took her out to dinner. I expect you to honor that promise." Naruto nodded dumbly in agreement.

"Don't worry Naruto. We can have our date tomorrow." She winked at him as he left running from the situation.

'Damn it. Why did she say stuff like that.'

'**I forgot that with all the training I made you do, I didn't teach you much about women.'**

"Oi what does that mean sensei?'

'**She obviously had interest in you, otherwise she wouldn't have made an offer like that.'**

'So what do I do now? Should I just take her to get ramen?'

Kurama shook his head at the simplicity of his idea. **'That's a bad way of thinking about it. Just take her out to do something she would like'**

Naruto thought about it for a few moments before he finally had an idea.

"I know what we can do." Kurama questioned his thought process. **'So what exactly did you want to do?'**

'That's a secret for now sensei. But you will understand when we see the Hokage in a moment.'

**Cut-**

**I know it took me a while to get out this chapter, but I have had a lot of insanity with my job situation recently that has made me hold off on writing. Luckily you get an extra long chapter as compensation. Now as far as the question last week went. A lot of people got it right. The four tail's name is Son-Goku. Any coincidence that his jinchuriki's name is Roshi?**

**Now for those who answered right. Here they are.**

**Ravenisawesome91**

**Hinataloover556**

**Konoha's Red Wolf**

**Cherryblossom2210**

**Jh831**

**Pawnsfire**

**And Yummyramen**

**Now for the question this week. My favorite anime as far as straight fighting goes is Yu Yu Hakusho. One of the main character's name is Hiei. Give me the number of fights he took part in the Dark tournament and his record for the tournament.**

**See ya**


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